L'enfants des Mort
by loathsome child
Summary: The more you let yourself go, the less others let you go. Drabbles. No longer has word limit. 30/50.
1. Un

It's not really anger. It's more of a chronic and intense frustration, now turned into nothing more than a dull, incorrigible ache thanks to its continuity.

But she can't tell the difference.

It's not difficult to understand her frustration. She's not talented like Sasuke and she doesn't carry a burden like Naruto. It's true that Naruto is often less capable than her during their missions, but his abilities tend to rapidly fluctuate, depending.

At her best, Sakura is mediocre, and Sakura is always at her best.

It's not anger. Anger breeds passion. And for this, she almost wishes it was.


	2. Deux

He's beautiful. It's unmistakable in his inky, ebony hair and ashen flesh. His looks shout out for attention, which is unfortunate, because his attitude ends conversation before three words are spoken.

They all like him because of his haughty demeanor and calm, calculated coolness. Because he's self assured and articulate. But she likes him most.

"You're mean, Sasuke-kun," she pouts. She's flirting. Sasuke doesn't know what that is. Neither does Sakura, for that matter.

"You're annoying," he mumbles in return.

For Sakura, this is love. Pure and delightful and painful.

For Sasuke, who has never known anything else, it's war.


	3. Trois

Life's a story about many people and what breaks them.

One of these people is Haruno Sakura.

She's memorized all the rules in the horribly verbose ninja handbook a year before it's even time for graduation. In Wave, Sakura looks down at Sasuke's lifeless body, disfigured horribly by harsh medical needles, and cries.

She remembers the academy, her classroom. The twenty-fifth rule of Shinobi Conduct. Just like always, she'd written it down.

"No matter what happens, true shinobi must never show their emotions. The mission is the only priority. Carry that in your heart and never, _never_ shed a tear."


	4. Quatre

Orochimaru stood, bowed over and grasping his sides in what were very undignified fits of laughter. A little ways away, across the underground expanse stood Kabuto, arms crossed and smirking widely in an annoyingly patronizing way.

_"Good_, Sasuke-kun? You want to know what _good_ is?" the Snake Sannin choked out, amidst failing attempts to regain his composure.

Sasuke scowled. "That _is_ what I said." Back in Leaf, he had never actually managed to work up the courage to ask Kakashi such a revealingly recondite question. But the concept had become a pressing matter, gnawing at his consciousness. And with little connection to the outside world Sasuke had little choice but to confide in Orochimaru.

However, before he had time to just drop the whole stupid ordeal he was on the floor. Kabuto's knee was in his back, a kunai held delicately to his throat.

"_That_ is good," Orochimaru stated, motioning to Kabuto while a snake-like grin graced his features. "Don't expect any training from me until you have beaten him. Do you understand, Sasuke-kun?"

For Orochimaru there was no good and evil.

There was only power, and those too weak to seek it.


	5. Cinq

There aren't many things Sasuke likes. There aren't many things he dislikes either.

Emotions are too precious a thing to waste on such trivial concepts as like and dislike, and besides, Sasuke has little to spare.

Hatred is difficult. It takes constant looking after, hours of time devoted to its cause. Love and hate, they're hard, but they're not impossible.

Hating someone, truly hating them, requires hating everyone else. And God it's agonizing and horrible and so very, very wrong, but in a way it's easier to hate. Because friendship just might break him.

And that is why Uzumaki Naruto must die.


	6. Six

It doesn't take The Sound Five to make him realize that staying in Konoha and gaining power are mutually exclusive.

The first time Sasuke realizes he is weak is on the roof of the hospital. Naruto with his Rasengan and him with his Chidori, and by the end of the short but intense battle the collateral damage is all the proof he needs.

Sasuke, the prodigy who has never had to try too much for anything, is being bested by someone who failed the graduation exam three times at the Academy, someone who can't even see beyond his single-minded, bullheaded convictions.

It's frustrating because a failure with the ability to make progress is obviously capable of surpassing a genius caught in inertia, a sort of motionlessness. And it's frightening because if he really is falling behind then how is he ever going to kill Itachi?

Sasuke is not a hero. He is a survivor.

He is also an Uchiha, he knows everything comes with a price.

When Sasuke comes to him seeking power, Orochimaru can't say he didn't expect it.


	7. Sept

Hyuuga Neji fancies he can see everything with his Bloodline Limit.

He's training with Tenten, and after long years of being in his cell she knows she will only stand a chance to win if she fights with intent to kill. The weapon's specialist twirls ten shuriken around her fingers, firing them off at her teammate with an expert flick of her wrist. Neji doesn't even have to activate his Byakugan to evade the attack, he just dodges rapidly and smirks into the treetops.

If he tries Neji can see every bug in Shino's colony enhancing his chakra flow. He can see the tiny exoskeleton of a grasshopper more than a kilometer away, trace the individual pattern of a snowflake as it falls from the sky with perfect precision.

Of all the ninja in Konoha, Naruto's chakra is the easiest to spot. Visible for kilometers, dark and fiery and vast, practically exploding from his veins. But for all his abilities, Hyuuga Neji cannot see where Naruto gets the warmth that flows into his face unbidden and unexpected at the strangest of sad moments. He does not know what makes Naruto's eyes so cerulean and bright, a blue he has only ever seen when gazing longingly at the sky.


	8. Huit

Kakashi wouldn't have taught Sasuke his Chidori if he had known Sasuke was going to steal it. Sasuke had left Konaha, maipulated it, made it better, and used it to be a traitor.

Kakashi thought that maybe he shouldn't have taken Obito's eye, even if it was a gift. Because there wasn't even a body under the memorial, all Kakashi had left of his fallen comrade was an eye, and the way it served as a constant reminder of him was nearly worse than having nothing at all.

The Chidori had only been possible after Obito's death, after Kakashi had received the Sharingan and was able to remain one step ahead of his enemies. From then on Kakashi had lived only by Obito's words.

"_Those who break the rules are filth, but those who don't care about their companions… they're even lower than filth."_

The Chidori was only possible thanks to Obito, and it remained a sacred remnant of his friend even after all these years.

And now Sasuke had betrayed his comrades and Obito's memory, and he was even lower than filth.


	9. Neuf

I'm not ashamed of that night.

It's true that I dream less often now. Nothing has the adequate intensity to haunt me anymore, or the audacity to dare be so unguarded and reckless. There is no time for regret or remorse or self-condemnation. There never really was.

The truth is I will forge your shell and you will break mine. Build you up to knock me down... Nothing is as pressing as the one who's pressing wants you to believe.

How old are you now?

I never forget a face.

I'm done healing, I'll close my eyes.

I'm so sorry, Sasuke.


	10. Dix

It's a good thing he doesn't do what he says, because he doesn't say what he means.

Many times in his life Sasuke has been able to communicate with people successfully. Articulately and directly, if not a little distrustfully.

But many more times he has not.

It's almost like there's some sort of disconnection between his brain and his vocal cords when he opens up his mouth to speak. A rip, a split, a crack.

"I hate you too," he snarls before leaping in the direct line of fire, Haku's most vicious attack, to save Naruto's life.

"It was never meaningless," he says. And he strikes through Naruto's heart.


	11. Onze

Happiness was lost when she was forced to grow up, and it started with the three of them. Out of all of Team Seven she had the greatest chance of being normal. She was pretty, an average ninja and bright, the type to quickly marry and retire to raise a family.

When Sasuke left time and change became her enemies. But later in life, time and change saved her.

She is no longer the girl she was back then. That person is so dense and impenetrable now, impossible to understand and unobtainable except in a dream.

Her old self may have wallowed in self-pity, but now she is strong and fierce and livid. Full of life.

She remembers watching Naruto and Sasuke as they forged ahead, testing each other's limits, too proud to like each other but too much like friends to hate. Now she and Naruto promise each other they will bring Sasuke back to Konoha if it is the last thing they do.

She can't help but wonder who and what they have become.


	12. Douze

His story cannot be written, because his story is the story of a person who does not exist.

One day he cracks a rib on a mission. It hurts to breathe, and when he tries to get up the next morning he coughs up blood and then nearly blacks out from the pain.

That, he realizes, is what it means to hurt.

When he joins Team Seven he can't help but be swept into the world of Naruto and Sakura. Their world is like nothing he has ever experience before, full of intense words and ominous energy centered around a mere idea of the Sasuke they used to know. He doesn't understand why Sasuke left and why he isn't returning. He doesn't understand what makes a person so worth the time and effort wasted to bring him back. And all this thinking worries Sai, because really, he shouldn't care.

One day Naruto tells him that Sasuke left because he was really hurting, because someone had hurt him and he thought he needed revenge, the stupid bastard.

Sai thinks back to his broken rib and doesn't understand.


	13. Treize

"It doesn't seem to be broken, Sasuke..."

Uchiha Itachi is kneeling next to his little brother, expertly examining the seven year old's left ankle in skilled hands. He pauses questioningly when he feels Sasuke's eyes on him, and gently sets the boy's foot on the ground before turning to glance at his brother.

"But 'Tachi, it hurts a lot!" Sasuke whines, pouting and wiping nonexistent tears from his eyes. "Can you carry me? I don't think I can walk."

Itachi sighs and places his kunai back in his weapons pouch, the motion eliciting a gleeful humming sound from the younger Uchiha.

"See Sasuke," Itachi begins as he turns around to let his younger brother clamber awkwardly onto his back. "This is why I don't normally let you train with me. You're always getting hurt."

He imagines he can see Sasuke pouting again behind him, but instead Sasuke lets out a small giggle and winds his arms around Itachi's neck, burrowing his face in his brother's back.

"You're not acting like someone who just broke his ankle," Itachi lectures, frowning gently.

A month before the massacre he finds himself at Sasuke's bedside, drawn to his brother irrevocably, without thought or purpose or any desire of changing such things. He leans forward, mouth brushing against Sasuke's ear as he sleeps, and whispers.

"Promise me that no matter what happens, you won't ever let anything break you."

He's not really taking away, he thinks. He's just giving Sasuke something new to hold on to.


	14. Quatorze

Sai draws like he completes missions. Every line is exact, each page a premeditated exercise in precision.

When Sai is still new to the team and Sakura still feels the need for affinity between team members she joins Sai as he draws, sitting down next to him and glancing at the sketchbook splayed across his lap.

She watches as he flips through pages upon pages of artwork, showing her a drawing here and a rough sketch there, while nodding absently at the compositions.

"They're good, Sai. They're..." she pauses, at a loss for an adjective that can appropriately describe what Sai has created. Because she's not sure what it is exactly, but each picture lacks something vital, something very subtle and abstruse.

They're wonderful from a technical standpoint, the figures anatomically correct, the shading light and unobtrusive.

It isn't until much later, after their small happening has nearly faded from her memory that Sakura finally finds the word she was looking for. She's daydreaming on a mission, (a bad habit) staring at Sai without really realizing it. He glances behind him, face impassive, and upon seeing her curves his lips into a horrible imitation smile almost remnant of Kakashi's.

And she realizes that he will never make a picture that is beautiful, sincere, or complex. He is too empty.


	15. Quinze

"Uchiha Sasuke," they all said, "handpicked by Orochimaru due to his staggering brilliance and superier blood line."

But in hindsight, Uchiha Sasuke was far from being the only genius in Konoha, or even the most talented.

To the rare few who bothered to reflect on such things it was a bit of a conundrum, the whole tired ordeal.

Because why not the ever-talented Byakugen-wielder, Hyuuga Neji? Why not Nara Shikamaru, whose IQ was so well above average it ascended into phenomenon? What did they lack that Sasuke had? What made him so special?

And to the even lesser few that deemed speculating such things worthwhile, this was the answer.

Sasuke had a burning incentive, a furious desperation. Purpose, resolve, passion.

Hatred.


	16. Seize

There is nothing that will ever move him.

He has seen everything and done everything, seen things at the age of seven a hardened ninja would lose sleep over for months. There is nothing that will ever strike him as new, nothing he can flinch at in surprise. Nothing can shatter his world again.

Because he _has_ all the reasons in the world. And besides, nobody wants to break something that is already broken. And pieces can be replaced, rips re-sewn, although awkwardly and in his own wicked image.

Just another day, another month, another year until he kills him…

But God he feels empty some days, because he is guilty, and because he is empty and he is dying.

Just another day, another month, another year.

Until then, he thinks he might die of emptiness.

There is no room for an after.


	17. Dix Sept

Kakashi has all but given up on punctuality, and the obligations he has to three genin aren't about to change that.

Before they head home for the day he asks them to assemble by the bridge the next morning at 5 AM, for training. They display the typical signs of displeasure, groaning and whining and rolling their eyes. But the next morning they're all at the bridge at precisely 5 AM, which is unfortunate, because Kakashi doesn't arrive until 8:15.

He ignores the indignant complaints from his students, and smiles.

"A black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the scenic route."

The next day is something like a repeat of the day before. Hours late, Kakashi shows up at the designated meeting spot, and ignoring his student's exasperation, curves his eyes into arcs reminiscent of two upside-down smiles.

"A cute girl stopped me, so I danced."

There are real reasons why he's late, of course, reasons he can't possible reveal to three twelve year old genin. Or to anyone really.

He's not late because he's paying his respects to Obito; that would almost be bearable. He's late because he's thinking about all the times he was acting foolish and hating himself for it. He goes to the memorial to mourn for his lost friend and to beat himself up about it, because being responsible for the death of a loved one certainly doesn't warrant any less.

After his routine trip to the memorial, Kakashi heads off to fulfill his obligations to his Village and Hokage, (because even murderers have obligations) which unfortunately includes the looking after and babysitting of three foolish genin.

He smiles at his naive, angry genin, who probably should've learned by now that he is and always will be late, (but there will be plenty of time for learning later, so let them stay naive) and rolls out a statement in his defense.

Kakashi's never been one for honesty either…

"I got lost on the road of life."

…but the truth seems to have ways of making itself known.


	18. Dix Huit

There is no magic in cognizance.

There is nothing divine or inexplicable about blood and bones and connective tissue. And life certainly isn't a miracle; it's a result of anatomical perfection, atria and ventricles in a small, fist-sized muscle pumping a continuous, beating rhythm into your chest. When you know your insides like the back of your hand there's no room for a soul between all that skin and bone, and certainly no need for one.

Humans are God's first, only, and greatest mistake, assuming there is a God.

But there's no room for irrational assumptions between such a harsh reality and the weight of knowing too much and caring too little.

Sometimes, lost in ennui, Shikamaru lies in the grass and gazes at the clouds. He thinks of blood and bones and corpses, and wonders if there could be a heaven in those forsaken, empty clouds.

An afterlife or not existing at all. He doesn't know which would be more troublesome.


	19. Dix Neuf

There was a fine line between selfishness and righteousness, and Naruto seemed to lie somewhere in the minute, equivocal space inbetween.

Naruto had succeeded, had brought Sasuke home. He had made Sasuke his… and why shouldn't he be happy? Sasuke was his best friend, his brother, his one and only special person.

He had brought him home, and with that, expected to find more. To break past defenses and rebuild. And everything would be fixed. And everything would be perfect.

But Sasuke had no defenses to begin with. And when he looked inside he saw nothing, just an emptiness, a void. And with no more barriers to hold him up, Sasuke had crumbled.

When he couldn't take it anymore, couldn't stand looking at the god-awful empty face and stagnant eyes that were _not_ Sasuke, _could not be _his Sasuke, Naruto would throw a punch, or shove this thing, this _not_Sasuke, against a wall.

Empty onyx eyes would meet his, void, monochrome and bereft. Broken.

Sasuke was gone, Naruto had not retrieved him. He never would.


	20. Vingt

Orochimaru has thousands of minions.

Two hundred of them have been dedicated to the training of Uchiha Sasuke.

He kills 199 of them in a single chakra induced swirl, katakana flying wildly, each strike precise and perfect in its furiousness.

Orochimaru watches greedily, drinking in the boy's graceful, fluid movements. He then clicks his tongue disapprovingly, there's a man clearly playing dead. Seems Sasuke didn't get his Chidori embedded far enough into his nervous system.

Sasuke notices too, and glares hard at what is clearly his failure. Almost perfect. But "almost" is the name of that seemingly infinite distance between himself and Itachi, the name of his inability, his damned inferiority. Almost is never good enough.

Crimson petals bloom on the stone floor, and Sasuke wipes clean his katakana.

He will sever this "almost", and he will do it with blood.


	21. Vingt et Un

They'd done a fine job of replacing each other.

After Sasuke had defected from Konoha they'd been given Sai. After Sasuke had killed Orochimaru he'd taken Suigetsu, Karin, and Juugo.

Once again Naruto and Sakura had a dark haired and derisive teammate to deal with.

Suigetsu was quite like Naruto in some ways. Overly-energetic and stubborn, as well as antagonizing and rather annoyingly block-headed sometimes.

Karin was nearly an exact duplicate of Sakura. They were both hot headed, shared a fascination with Sasuke, and were annoyed by Suigetsu and Naruto, respectively.

It was a bit curious that Sasuke had chosen two people so similar to his former teammates. To him it was solely a logical decision, based off of which people would give him the best tactical advantages. There was only ever logic now, and rationality, and reason. He would never admit to having a subconscious will, a pull toward people that reminded him of the ones he had spent his childhood with, even if it wasn't what most would even call a childhood.

Naruto and Sakura, they hadn't chosen Sai, they had been given him. For Sakura the entrance of Sai into her life finally made Sasuke's abandonment real. In some ways it was easier to accept it that way. And if she got sad she could just squint her eyes a little and there would be Sasuke.

For Naruto it was different. Sai wasn't a replacement for Sasuke, or an unconscious pull towards what had driven him to Sasuke in the first place. For Naruto it was simple.

All along Team Seven had still meant him and Sakura and Sasuke.

Now it just meant Sai as well.


	22. Vingt Deux

If Nagato had adopted the alias Pain after what had forced him into maturity, then Sasuke's name would be Hate and Kakashi's would be Guilt. Naruto's name would be Isolation.

So the story would be of Isolation and Hate, and their teacher Guilt. About their unlikely bond in the beginning, which wasn't quite a matter of friendship or companionship, or an affinity based off of similarities, (of which they had plenty, even so).

It wasn't quite a matter of hate, either, or animosity, or competition, or scathing words (although they had plenty of that, too).

It was more about understanding, and wanting, and giving, and needing and taking, taking, taking. (In the beginning.)

Later on, and in a painfully predictable turn of events, for Hate it was about hate, and for Isolation it was fear of being alone again. And for Guilt, it was about failure.

No, Nagato really couldn't claim the alias Pain. Pain was the only thing that united them, that brought them together. A sort of shared suffering, a birthright, a legacy.

They were all Pain.


	23. Vingt Trois

She only does it to keep the quiet at bay.

Hinata knows she's surrounded by people, that they live just behind a few thin walls, or facades, or maybe a little of both. When she walks out the door in the morning she is suffocated by them, the way they crowd up against her in the streets, and push and prod at her impatiently in market lines.

When she returns home at night she is greeted by the droning hum of her refrigerator and the mechanical ticking of her clock. Sometimes she tells her dresser that she is home, and swears that if she listens hard enough she can almost make out an answer.

Sometimes she is answered by echoes.

When she pulls back the curtains and opens the window it is only because she cannot win against her loneliness. Voices of passerby blare incessantly, and lights neon and sonic and savage shine in all their inimical glory.

It is a deep and agonizing dissatisfaction that causes her to throw open the other window, and when she falls asleep on the couch, too exhausted to crawl into bed, she dreams of her ennui.

No, Hinata cannot win against her loneliness.

She only does it to keep the quiet at bay.


	24. Vingt Quatre

How would I know intimacy if I didn't know abandonment?

_For abandonment, thank you._

How would I know kindness if I didn't know cruel words?

_For cruel words, thank you._

How would I know friendship if I didn't know rivalry?

_For rivalry, thank you._

How would I know reality if I didn't know false hope?

_For false hope, thank you._

How would I know trust if I didn't know betrayal?

_For betrayal, thank you._

How would I know empathy if I didn't know intolerance?

_For intolerance, thank you._

How would I know love if I didn't know animosity?

_For hate, Sasuke, thank you._


	25. Vingt Cinq

Orochimaru has an eye for the aesthetic.

Thus he has an eye for the degenerate, because degenerate things are beautiful and easy to submit.

Orochimaru has an eye for beautiful, broken things, so of course he has two eyes for Uchiha Sasuke.

The boy is an easy catch. After he gives Sasuke the cursed seal mark he knows he doesn't have long to wait. After he sends the Sound Four he can hardly stand to wait.

Orochimaru can only ever think of himself. It is never a two way deal, it's about shaping Sasuke to Orochimaru's standards, to someone fit to be his mortal shell.

But Sasuke is bound by his ambitions, and thus almost masochistically easy to maneuver.

Orochimaru has an eye for the aesthetic, for the degenerate, the shapeable, so much so that it should be obvious.

But Sasuke has hate, and he is blind.


	26. Vingt Six

_For Frosty Pig._

There isn't much you can do for a monster.

Not many can understand the intensity of isolation like he can, exiling himself to caves and the darker parts of the world, simply because he cannot control his impulses. But Juugo knows there are worse things than being alone.

Oh yes, Juugo knows.

A man with killing instincts of his own is Juugo's first savior. Kimimaro keeps him in check for the most part, and Juugo muses that perhaps it takes a monster to control a monster.

One day, when Kimimaro comes to visit, he looks exceedingly unwell. Juugo is not a friend, he is the epitome of all things wicked, bathed in blood and abandoned, and he cannot hold back. He never sees Kimimaro again.

Uchiha Sasuke is Juugo's second savior, and he comes bearing news of death. The boy's not Kimimaro, but god, he's close enough.

And Juugo muses that maybe, in all reality, the best defense against a monster is a tender heart.


	27. Vingt Sept

Itachi was perfect. Madara knew this intimately.

He was everything an Uchiha should be, everything an ANBU captain should be, everything a traitor should be, all wrapped into one (and it was breathtaking.)

He had a brilliant mind, strong and resolute, adept at analytical thinking and a body to match. Slim and toned and graceful. (Beautiful.)

He was also flawed.

It wasn't an obvious flaw, or even a common flaw, like greed or wrath or envy. It was only a flaw one could find in someone who had tried to murder their heart, and hadn't quite succeeded.

Itachi's flaw was love, and his one and only failure had been Sasuke.

And Madara knew this intimately.


	28. Vingt Huit

"You know Naruto, it's one thing to fight for Sasuke and die trying, and another thing to simply die for him."

They're sitting at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar, Iruka having offered to treat his favorite former pupil to lunch. Naruto is noisily slurping his miso ramen while Iruka holds a steaming cup of tea in his hands.

Naruto looks up from his ramen and wipes the back of a hand across his mouth. He tilts his head to the side and gives an odd, half smile.

"I don't understand, Master Iruka."

Iruka pauses, clenching his fingernails into the porcelain cup and half expecting it to shatter. He closes his eyes.

"I know, Naruto, I know."


	29. Vingt Neuf

When the reasons have long become irrelevant it is the feelings that linger.

All he remembers is a flash, a touch, a taste. It's hardly what one would consider a memory, and it's strange, because really, that day more than any other should stand out in his mind.

Sasuke's never been the type to look at things objectively. To him there is no such thing as that so called "gray space" that divides a truth from a lie. He only ever sees in black and white.

But now, when he allows his mind to wander, all he sees is red.


	30. Trente

**A/N**: _I suppose this may need a bit of an explanation. This drabble was written under the assumption that Sasuke would suffer from shock after having killed his brother, do to the emotional and physical strain, and that the shock would result in momentary amnesia. It is also assumed that he would wake up in Madara's cave with no recollection of said happening._

_Is someone there?_

It is very dark when he hears the voice. He doesn't know where it is coming from, whether it's above or below him, to his left or to his right. As a matter of fact, he doesn't even know where he himself is, much less what constitutes as above, below, or any other sort of direction. He feels like he should look around, but he has no eyes and no body to speak of. He has no eyes… that must be why it's dark. He has no ears either, but it is not silent. The voice tries again.

_Is someone there?_

Sasuke considers this for a moment. It's not an irrelevant question; in fact, the state of his existence is beginning to become a worrisome topic of inquiry. He thinks he probably ought to answer. The question should not be kept up for debate.

_Of course there's someone there_, he says. He's surprised at his own ability to speak. He doesn't have a mouth either. _There's always_ someone_ there_.

The voice hesitates. _Oh, I was hoping it would be someone else_.

He frowns, feeling rather insulted by the disappointed tone. _Do you even realize where you are? If you're not happy with this figment of your imagination, pick another one._

Now he is no longer sure which voice even belongs in a body. He too is just a voice, after all. How strange, to have twice the amount of necessary voices and zero the amount of necessary bodies. However, the concern is nothing more than a dull buzz at the back of his head. He needs to get his body back, and he needs to figure out why it's so dark. Is he blind? He vaguely remembers something like sunshine.

_Do you know where my body is?_ It's a query to darkness. He wonders momentarily if he has gone insane. He decides, quite obviously, that he has.

_Why? Did you misplace it?_ The voice is familiar, and it's not just familiar because he's gotten used to this conversation they've been entertaining. He remembers it from _before_, although he's not sure what before is. For some reason, he associates it with the sunshine.

_No, I can keep track of myself. Don't be so insulting. Where are you, by the way? Aren't you looking for your body?_

The voice doesn't chuckle, but he can feel it laughing. _It was just a question_, it states, addressing his defensive manner. _And a reasonable one, I'd say, considering that misplaced mind of yours._

_Well I-_

_Wait, I'm not done yet. You asked a question; shouldn't you wait to here the answer?_

He frowns, annoyed again. The voice is ridiculously adept at jumping from tangent to tangent. _Alright then, fine. Go ahead._

_Your body is lying on a rock, next to mine._

Sasuke thinks about this. _Oh. In that case, should we look for them together?_

The voice seems to find him humorous again. The dark positively rumbles with laughter. Sasuke scowls.

_Oh no, most certainly not. I am quite finished with that body. It's not good for much of anything anymore. But feel free to go back to yours! In fact, I quite hope you do._

_Well, I don't know how. Could you help me?_

_I thought you said you _weren't_ lost. Ah well, no matter. I suppose even near death isn't going to make you any smarter._

The voice fades out and he feels quite alone again. Except this time it's worse. He feels like a spaceship that accidentally maneuvered its way into a black hole or dark matter, thin and stretched and positively dwarfed by the emptiness of his surroundings. He feels afraid, even terrified almost, if it weren't for the apathy neutralizing every atom in his being.

When he opens his eyes there is sunlight peeking through the clouds. It was raining earlier, that much he can recall. But when? He does not have time to ponder this thought as he slowly floats into the reassuring dark of unconsciousness. It is a comfortable calling, darkness obviously different from that which he just experienced, but he resists momentarily to blearily look to his side. He does not so much see as feel the presence of the body next to him. With difficulty he scrapes together the energy needed to move his hand, gravity pouring down on him like a ten-ton torrential rain. He finds a wrist. There's no pulse. He does not know who he is touching, whose body it is accompanying his dying form on a rock in the middle of nowhere, but he is certain, without a doubt, that this is the voice's body, and for some reason he thinks he might smile.

"Thanks," he gasps, the last exertion of his conscious mind.


End file.
